OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between temperament and character dimensions and family environments, and to investigate the influences of those factors on the antisocial personality traits in delinquent adolescents. METHODS: The subjects consisted of 160 male adolescents detained at the public prosecutor's office on the suspicion of crimes. To assess personality dimensions and family environmental factors, the Temperament and Character Inventory(TCI) and the Family Environment Scale(FES) were completed. Antisocial personality traits were assessed by the number of antisocial personality disorder symptoms of the Personality Disorder Questionnaire-Revised. RESULTS: Most of the TCI dimensions except Reward Dependence(RD) were highly correlated with the subscales of FES. Among temperament dimensions, Novelty Seeking(NS) and Persistence(P) were significantly affected by Organization, and Harm Avoidance(HA) was influenced by Expressiveness of FES. Self-Directednss(SD) was best predicted by Organization and Achievement-Orientation. While the Independence had significant effect on Cooperativeness, Expressiveness and Achievement-Orientation best predicted the level of Self-Transcendence(ST). On factor analysis, NS, HA, SD and ST were allocated to the same factors with subscales of FES. The level of antisocial personality trait was best predicted by NS, P and SD scores of TCI, and conflict subscale scores of FES. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that not only the character dimensions but also the temperament dimensions have close relationships with family environmental factors, and that the antisocial personality traits of delinquent adolescents may developed by the interaction between temperament/character dimensions and family environments.
Adolescent* ; Antisocial Personality Disorder* ; Crime ; Humans ; Personality Disorders ; Reward ; Temperament*

Heart failure unresponsive to bed rest, low sodium diet, digitalis, diuretics, vasodilators and cardiac inotropic agents is a difficult therapeutic problem. Although remission was achieved with such treatment, its duration was short and easily recurred. We present a report of severe refractory congestive heart failure in three patients successfully treated with Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD). These patients were admitted to the hospital many times and treated by conventional methods but cannon maintain their condition for a long time. In all three patients, edema, pulmonary congestion, electrolyte abnormalities, decreased ejection fraction and fractional shortening of myocardioum were eliminated or improved by CAPD. All three patients improved from Class IV congestive heart to Class II, as defined by the New York Heart Association, and experienced a define improvement in their sense of well being We conclude CAPD as an effective and the useful treatment for servere congestive heart failure refractory to conventional medical treatments.
Bed Rest ; Diet ; Digitalis ; Diuretics ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP)* ; Heart ; Heart Failure* ; Humans ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory ; Pulmonary Edema ; Sodium ; Vasodilator Agents

No abstract available.
Fistula* ; Stomach* ; Tuberculosis*

The CT findings of the adrenal disease in a total of 52 patients were analysed. 39 patients of them wereverified at operation and composed of 22 patients of Cushing's syndrome, 11 patients of pheochromocytoma, 6patients of aldosteronism. The remainder was finally diagnosed on the basis of compelling clinical and biochemical evidence. Aldosteronoma is very small (all under 3cm), round or oval mass with homogeneous low density, but pheochromocytoma is relatively large mass (all beyond 3cm) with heterogeneous or isodense comparing to pancreaticdensity. Size and density of Cushing's adenoma has transitional character between aldosteronoma andpheochromocytoma. Overall diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of CT in adrenal tumor/adrenal diseaseare 96.2%/87%. 96.4%/78.9% and 95.7%/97.7% respectively. The relative low sensitivity of adrenal disease(78.9%) isdue to inclusion of normal sized bilateral hyperplasia. Of 28 adrenal tumors, 27 were correctly diagnosed by CT,and there were one false positive and one false negative diagnosis. CT is a highly accurate non-invasive method inlocalization of adrenal tumors and differentiation of the tumors from hyperplasia.
Adenoma ; Cushing Syndrome ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Hyperaldosteronism ; Hyperplasia ; Methods ; Pheochromocytoma ; Sensitivity and Specificity

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to report on the results and discuss the role of free flap followed by ipsilateral vascularized fibular transposition (IVFT) for reconstruction of large bone and soft tissue defect combined with infection by open tibia fracture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During the research period, lasting from December 2002 to June 2008 (Kyung Hee University Medical Center), data were collected from three patients who underwent IVFT after free flap. We analyzed the successiveness and persistency of the infection using free flapping, bone union, and hypertrophy between transposed fibula and tibia. RESULTS: Regarding free flap, successive results were observed in all examples. In the final follow-up results, transposed fibulas all survived, having hypertrophy similar to that of adjacent tibia. CONCLUSION: Reconstruction of tibia defect with free flap followed by IVTF is a useful and safe method for avoidance of the potential risk of infection for patients with a large tibial bone defect and soft tissue defect associated with infection.
Fibula ; Follow-Up Studies ; Free Tissue Flaps* ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; Lower Extremity* ; Methods ; Tibia

BACKGROUND: It has been known that Ginseng extract causes the hypotensive action while it rather produces the hypertensive action. Some studies have suggested that Ginseng extract causes a biphasic response on blood pressure, namely, transient fall followed by prolonged elevation. It has been also shown that administration of Korean Red Ginseng powder has no effect on blood pressure in normotensive and hypertensive rats. The present study was designed to examine the effect of total Ginseng saponin on contractile responses of vasoconstrictors in the rat aorta and to establish the mechanism of its action. METHODS: The ring segment of aorta was mounted in a muscle bath filled with oxygenated Krebs solution for the measurement of isometric tension. After the equilibration period, under the presence of total Ginseng saponin, isometric tension induced by some vasoconstrictors were observed and compared to the control responses. The data were expressed as % of the control tension. RESULTS: Phenylephrine (an adrenergic alpha1-receptor agonist) and high potassium (a membrane depolarizing agent) caused greatly contractile responses in the rat aorta, respectively. However, in the presence of total ginseng saponin (600 g/ml), the contractile responses of phenylephrine (10(-6) and 10(-5) M) and high potassium (3.5 x 10(-2) and 5.6 x 10(-2) M) were markedly potentiated whereas prostglandin F2alpha(5 x 10(-6) M)-induced contractile responses was not affected. The contractile responses induced by phenylephrine (10(-5) M) and high potassium (3.5 x 10(-2) M) even under the presence of total ginseng saponin (600 g/ml) were greatly inhibited by the pretreatment of nicardipine (10(-6) M), a calcium channel blocker. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these experimental results suggest that total ginseng saponin can enhance the contractile responses evoked by stimulation of adrenergic alpha1-receptor and the membrane depolarization in the isolated rat aortic strips, which seems to be associated to calcium influx.
Animals ; Aorta* ; Baths ; Blood Pressure ; Calcium ; Calcium Channels ; Membranes ; Nicardipine ; Oxygen ; Panax* ; Phenylephrine ; Potassium ; Rats* ; Saponins* ; Vasoconstriction ; Vasoconstrictor Agents*

Korean raspberry, Rubus coreanus Miquel (RCM), contains high concentrations of phenolic compounds, which prevent oxidative stress. To determine the effect of RCM on antioxidant capacity in humans, we assessed in vivo lipid oxidation and antioxidant enzyme activities from plasma in 15 healthy men. The subjects ingested 30 g of freeze-dried RCM daily for 4 weeks. Blood was taken at baseline and at the end of the study to determine blood lipid profiles, fasting plasma glucose, liver function, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant enzyme activities. RCM supplementation had no effect on blood lipid or fasting plasma glucose concentrations but decreased alkaline phosphatase activity. RCM supplementation increased glutathione peroxidase activities (P < 0.05) but had no effect on lipid peroxidation. These results suggest that short-term RCM supplementation may offer health benefits by enhancing antioxidant capacity in a healthy population.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; Fasting ; Glucose ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; Humans ; Insurance Benefits ; Lipid Peroxidation ; Liver ; Male ; Oxidative Stress ; Phenol ; Plasma

Human breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231, is highly invasive and aggressive, compared to less invasive cell line, MCF-7. To explore the genes that might influence the malignancy of MDA-MB-231, DNA microarray analysis was performed. The results showed that G0/G1 switch 2 (G0S2) was one of the most highly expressed genes among the genes upregulated in MDA-MB-231. Although G0S2 acts as a direct inhibitor of adipose triglyceride lipase, action of G0S2 in cancer progression is not yet understood. To investigate whether G0S2 affects invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 cells, G0S2 expression was inhibited using siRNA, which led to decreased cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells. Consequently, G0S2 inhibition inactivated integrin-regulated FAK-Src signaling, which promoted Hippo signaling and inactivated ERK1/2 signaling. In addition, G0S2 downregulation decreased β-catenin expression, while E-cadherin expression was increased. It was demonstrated for the first time that G0S2 mediates the Hippo pathway and induces epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). Taken together, our results suggest that G0S2 is a major factor contributing to cell survival and metastasis of MDA-MB-231 cells.
Breast Neoplasms ; Breast ; Cadherins ; Cell Line ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Survival ; Down-Regulation ; Humans ; Lipase ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; RNA, Small Interfering ; Signal Transduction

Mucormycosis is an uncommon, frequently fatal, opportunistic fungal infection and usually occur in immunocompromised patients. Rhinocerebral and pulmonary disease are the common forms but intestinal infection is an extremely rare form of the disease. Invasive intestinal mucormycosis is usually fatal, therefore, few cases reported survival after early diagnosis and surgical resection combined with antifungal treatment. Because of high mortality after surgery, the healing of ulcers caused by intestinal mucormycosis has not previously observed in immunocompromised host. We reported a case of the intestinal mucormycosis that had been healed the ulcer and symptomatic improvement after only amphotericin B.
Amphotericin B* ; Early Diagnosis ; Immunocompromised Host ; Lung Diseases ; Mortality ; Mucormycosis* ; Ulcer*